I sat back in the chair, my mind trying to process everything I had read on Mr. Jenks’ computer. Ms. Dale strode in and sat in the chair. I looked at her inquisitively.

“She’s fine. She’s comforting her brother.”

A dark thread of suspicion cut through my thoughts, but as I studied her face, I saw sincerity behind that carefully constructed mask. She also looked tired—like whatever she had seen had an effect on her. I resisted taking a jab at her, it would be counter-productive, and I had too much on my plate.

“How much of this were you aware of?” I asked, indicating the computer.

She said nothing, just stared at me with that blank face. I sighed, and folded my hands on the desk. “You’ve realized that you can’t really hide anything from me, right?”

Shrugging with one shoulder, the corners of her mouth quirked up. “That remains to be seen,” she replied arrogantly.

I felt a dull throb in my skull—a reminder of my concussion—and I shook my head at her. “You are something else, lady.”

“How do you mean?”

I leaned back into the chair, it squeaked under my weight but held fast. “I mean that you are going to pick a side very soon.”

“I have a side,” she replied curtly.

“Matrus? The people who want you to catch an innocent woman as a public relations prop?”

Her mouth pinched and she looked away. It was progress. Minimal, but progress none-the-less.

I leaned forward, pinching the bridge of my nose to try and relieve the growing headache. I was starting to feel tired, a sign that the adrenaline patch was beginning to wear off. I still hadn’t done anything to patch my wounds—I had been too curious to stop reading for long enough.

Turning back to the computer screen, I re-read a few of the conversations between Queen Rina and Mr. Jenks.

It seemed that the two of them had been conspiring on this project for the better part of thirty years. I couldn’t understand the science aspects of it—they were far too technical for a layman like myself—but luckily for me, neither could Queen Rina.

Mr. Jenks had diluted the science enough that I could understand his and the queen’s ultimate goal. Apparently, they had stumbled on to a way of enhancing humans. I had gathered that Mr. Jenks had been studying the insemination program, focusing on the unborn embryo.

I didn’t understand his theory, but he believed that exposing the unborn child at a certain stage of development with radiation or chemicals would trigger a mutation. And for some reason, Queen Rina had allowed him to experiment on her own unborn children.

It had apparently been a success, but it was limited, and there were some larger problems that developed in association with the experiments. Yet the queen’s children had survived and were considered enhanced. There weren’t many specific details about her offspring beyond that, but Mr. Jenks’ research carried on.

In studying the princesses’ genetic code, he had found the areas which triggered these physical enhancements. Strength, speed, intelligence, agility… he had unlocked the key to advancing the human race. The next evolutionary step forward.

But it was an artificially forced evolution, and with that came consequences. In this case, psychological ones. He found that the children born often manifested intense psychological issues.

It put a stop to his in vitro experimentation, but he didn’t stop. He believed that there was a way he could awaken these mutations on fully formed humans and, given enough time and study, he could create a single human with all the enhanced abilities he had catalogued.

The queen had funded him, helping him create a laboratory and giving him test subjects in the form of the boys deemed too aggressive for Matrian society.

He had limited success in waking the dormant genes in the boys, using pills. Yet the same psychological issues persisted in each individual. It varied, from hyper-phobia to bipolar manifestations. There were even several cases of schizophrenia.

Mr. Jenks didn’t let that stop him. He’d pressed forward with his research, determined to create the ultimate enhanced human.

And he eventually thought he had. I stared at the picture of the egg, its shell open, the small embryo resting inside. It seemed that Queen Rina had been scheduled for implantation (by some specialized process I didn’t understand), but had it been a successful test, more would be created and implanted into the women of Matrus.

He had even managed to prevent the embryo from dropping a chromosome and becoming male, ensuring that every implantation would result in an enhanced female.

No wonder King Maxen had wanted it. It represented a very real threat to the continued existence of Patrus.

Of course, the selfish king had then tried to duplicate the technology, probably planning on having his best scientists reverse engineer the process. He had to have had a spy on the inside, someone close to the project, feeding him data. It didn’t matter, though, Violet and Lee had stolen it back.

I could now understand why Lee wanted to keep it out of both nation’s hands. It was too dangerous for any one nation to control exclusively. Of course, why he had determined to steal it as opposed to destroying it was still a mystery to me.

Looking over at Ms. Dale, I felt a wave of rage wash through me.

“So. Selina and Marina. How were they enhanced?”

She gave me that blank face again, and I resisted the urge to shout at her. I took a deep breath and shook my head, pulling myself up to a standing position. A rush of dizziness came over me, and I swayed back and forth for a moment before it passed.

“You are going to collapse soon,” she replied dryly.

I shook my head, holding up a hand to her. “That may be true,” I grunted. “And then you’ll be able to kill me. But until I do, you are going to answer my questions.”

“No. I won’t. I’ve told you more than I intended to. You’ve just learned a great deal of information, much of it I don’t want, nor need, to know. Take that, and run.”

I shook my head. “Not until you tell me about Lee’s contact.”

Her face tightened again, the mask coming down like a massive gate.

Frustrated, I slammed my hand against the desk, satisfied when she jumped in surprise.

“You are, by far, the most infuriating Patrian male I have ever met,” she said icily.

I opened my arms. “And you, Melissa, are the most irritating Matrian woman I have ever met. You play these games like somehow you can play both sides at once, never seeing that you are toying with human lives. What you did… I don’t know how you live with yourself. I don’t even know why you told me what you told me. All I know is that you are going to get Violet killed.”

She stared at me disdainfully, and gave a little sniff. “I’ve helped you more than I should,” she hissed, standing up. “I’ve put everything I believe in aside to help Violet. But you can’t ask me to turn my back on my own civilization. I already feel sick enough revealing what I have to you, Patrian.”

I gaped at her for a moment. “I really don’t understand you. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if I’m Patrian and you’re Matrian. Not when both sides are wrong.”

“What do you suggest we do? Flee to The Outlands? No one has ever returned, and I don’t know about you, but I like being alive. I like what I do. If Patrus gets its hands on the egg—”

“It would be just as bad if Matrus did. We need to destroy it.”

“You can’t!”

“Try to stop me,” I replied.

We stood glaring at each other for a moment, neither of us backing off, nor willing to admit that the other had some points.

I had to imagine that this was how it had been at the birth of our two civilizations. One man and one woman in a room, arguing about who was right, both too proud to admit that the other did have a point.

Of course, Ms. Dale was deep into propaganda territory, as far as I was concerned. She truly believed that women would have a better handle on enhanced abilities than men did. I, on the other hand, knew enough about the nature of people to know that if they had any type of power, they would inevitably abuse it, regardless of their gender.

Just then, a loud clang sounded from the staircase upstairs. Ms. Dale and I exchanged looks for a split second.

I rushed out of the office, looking for something to jam the door mechanism. Ms. Dale was hot on my heels.

“The cuffs,” she cried, holding her wrists out to me. I fumbled in my pocket, pulling the key out. I unlocked them quickly, and she rushed over to the door, using the cuffs to stop the mechanism mid-turn. I heard a screech of outrage on the other side.

“So sorry, Marina,” I said through the door. “We aren’t ready to have guests yet. Come back in a few days, and we’ll have dinner.”

The door thudded from Marina’s reply, shuddering in the frame.

“Why must you always antagonize others?” Ms. Dale muttered.

I shrugged, and then grabbed on to the counter as another wave of dizziness struck me.

Ms. Dale studied me for a few seconds, her mouth pinched, and her brown eyes flitting over me. “You can’t stand against them,” she stated. “We need to run. I’ll help you reunite with Violet. You take her out of here.”

“No,” I replied with a cough.

“No? What is your plan, Patrian? Stand here and distract them with your corpse?”

I shook my head, and hobbled over to the first-aid kit, opening it up. Spotting what I wanted, I peeled the adrenaline patch off my neck. Pulling out three more, I began opening the foil packets with my teeth. Ms. Dale’s brown eyes widened.

“That much adrenaline will kill you,” she said.

“Doesn’t matter. I won’t be able to keep up anyway.” I rested my hands on the table, and glared at Ms. Dale. “You need to get Violet out of here.”

She scoffed. The thudding had increased, and I could hear the groaning of the bolts in the door. Time was running out. “You would trust me with that?”

I shook my head. “Not even remotely. But Violet is down there getting her brother right now.” I locked eyes with her, and leaned back slightly under the ferocity of it. “Violet will not let any harm come to her brother. If you want the egg returned, you get her out to a safe place. She’ll barter with you, and I know that you’ll keep your word, given what you’ve told me.”

I felt guilty about leaving Violet in the hands of Ms. Dale, but I could buy Violet time. I hated that I wasn’t going to be there for her. It felt like I was abandoning her. I needed to fulfill my vow to her. But I needed to keep her safe.

I pulled the handheld out of the tower and held it out to her. “Give this to her. Take your stupid egg, and get her safe.”

Ms. Dale reached out for the handheld slowly, hesitation breaking through the tight mask on her face.

She was taking too long. I tossed it at her, and she caught it with her good hand.

“Go,” I ordered, slapping the first adrenaline patch on.

Turning on her heel, she strode from the room. I followed behind her, the other two patches ready to be placed. It was a lot of adrenaline, and it would make my heart explode, but if I could slow Marina and Selina down long enough, it would be worth it.

Just then, the door gave a harsh groan and broke open. I ducked, but I heard Ms. Dale’s cry of pain as the door clipped her shoulder.

The twins stepped in through the gaping hole, sinister smiles on their face.

“Hello ladies,” I said, applying the two patches to the back of my hands under the guise of cracking my knuckles. “I've been waiting for you.”